Disasters

Oil Rig Sinks After Explosion

Eleven workers still missing.

Coal mines aren’t the only deadly worksites in the energy industry: The oil rig where an explosion left 11 workers missing has sunk off the coast of Louisiana and environmental officials are trying to assess the pollution. Meanwhile, more than 100 survivors have been reunited with their families in suburban New Orleans. The rig was conducting exploratory drilling about 50 miles offshore. Seventeen people were injured, four critically. The Associated Press calls it potentially “one of the nation’s deadliest offshore drilling accidents of the past half-century.” A lawsuit has already been filed on behalf of the missing men, alleging that the company that operated the rig was negligent.